State Bar Investigates Nolan Over Fake Letter

The California State Bar has opened an investigation into possible ethical violations by Assemblyman Pat Nolan (R-Glendale) in connection with the forgery of former President Ronald Reagan’s signature on campaign letters in 1986.

Rick Harker, the State Bar’s assistant chief trial counsel in San Francisco, said Monday that Nolan, a lawyer, took “an oath and has the duty to obey all laws . . . and not to do anything deceitful or dishonest. And that’s something we’re looking at.”

Nolan said he did not have a reaction to the investigation because “they haven’t contacted me. So how could I have a reaction?”

The State Bar licenses and disciplines lawyers. The penalty for ethical violations ranges from a reprimand to disbarment. But Harker cautioned that he has no idea if any discipline would be sought against Nolan, whose 41st Assembly District includes Glendale, part of Pasadena, Eagle Rock and Altadena.

In March, state prosecutors acknowledged that they had sought to indict Nolan for his role in the phony letters case but decided after presenting the case to a grand jury that they could not prove that Nolan had committed a crime.

Forgery Count

Instead, Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp obtained an indictment against Assemblyman John R. Lewis (R-Orange), with a single count of forgery stemming from the mailing of as many as 480,000 phony endorsements in six Assembly races, including the campaign of Republican Henry Velasco, who unsuccessfully challenged Assemblywoman Sally Tanner (D-Baldwin Park). Lewis has pleaded innocent.

Prosectors told a Sacramento County grand jury that Nolan and Lewis “knew prior to the letters being distributed that there had been no authorization from the President or the White House or the Republican National Committee.” But no witness linked Nolan directly to the order to send the letters without White House authorization.

Harker said his office opened its inquiry in November after receiving a complaint against Nolan and reviewing news articles on the attorney general’s investigation of Nolan.

Now, he said, investigators are reading copies of the 350-page grand jury transcript to determine if there is “any substantial evidence of ethical violations” by Nolan.

Nolan, the former Assembly Republican leader, is one of five elected state officials targeted in a 3 1/2-year-old federal investigation into political corruption in Sacramento.

Harker declined to comment on whether his inquiry would focus on Nolan’s role in the federal investigation.